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Patriot, Mission 3: Spy Another
very solid mission in this impressive campaign. I love how the first three
missions provide very different settings and vary up the gameplay style
substantially. Zontik continues to impress with his intricate, yet
easy-to-follow storyline. This is a semi-ghosting mission, but easier than
the previous two for that exact reason. The puzzles are clever, yet not
overly complicated. Plenty of readables provide clues on how to solve them,
if you take your time to read everything. First
I had to make my way into Cog Tower, the Blackbrook mechanist headquarters. I
had to find information on their new weapon, along with the location of their
captives. I wasn’t allowed to make them aware of my presence, including the
use of any weapons. A few more objectives could be triggered during the
mission. Right
at the start, a nearby guard alerted to Garrett falling from the starting
position. I do not think this should be a bust, as it is completely out of
the player’s control. I remember such situations discussed before by some of
the mode’s original creators, often compared with camvator sequences. If the
player isn’t in control of Garrett and gets detected, it is not a bust. The Ghost
run in effect doesn’t start until the player has full control over Garrett’s
movements. Main
Building Big
thanks to Galaer for several cool strats in this mission. I doubt I would
have discovered all of those on my own. The first one was how to get into Cog
Tower without using the sewers. This would necessitate causing a leak in the
underground pipes and flood the system. Although I don’t think this would
count as property damage, it was very intrusive and definitely not in the
spirit of Supreme. Galaer found a method of climbing on top of the fence and
roof of the sewer maintenance building and use the cables to get to the main
building (left image below). This was a very reliable method once I knew what
surfaces to mantle. The western wall had an invisible layer that was somewhat
funky to get used to, but it all worked out well.
However,
my joy of entering the building this way was short lived. In order to
complete the first objective, I had to enter the room with the sewer grate in
the basement. Well, there was no way of doing that for Supreme. The closest
door to the guards triggered a first alert, and the other door was lit up by
a nearby gas lamp, with no way of entering unseen. I thus had to restart and
enter via the sewers after all. I don’t think it involved any Supreme busts,
as there was no way to reset the water level, nor raise the security gates. I
would, however, need to find a way back out to close the sewer hatch and turn
off the signal lights, before the
mission ended. I had a plan in mind, but would have to wait and see. Now
I could clean the basement and lower floor without issues. I could not
utilize the doors to the hall in the west, as both of the guards in there
heard the doors. I thus found no way to get to the upper floor from this part
of the map. I tried climbing bookcases in the archive, but was not
successful. I decided to use another strat by Galaer and enter the tower by
frobbing the balcony button in the conservatory. The way to do that was by
way of a rope arrow into one of the pillars (right image above). From atop
the rope I had to make two mantles in quick succession, which didn’t always
work. Plus the camera had to be facing away (north) when I got to the top of
the railing. Once I found the method, it wasn’t difficult. I could drop back
onto the plant below without taking damage, again when the camera swung away. Tower I
could close the gate with a button in the central tower, plus turn off the
red beams of death in the vault. That was the main reason for being here. I
stole the key from the patroller also. I also opened the gates leading to
congress hall. They would get shut automatically later, but I would have to
manually turn on the red beams. In
the temple I had to flip the vault lever in front of the priest. The intended
way was to kill him by breaking the string to the huge statue above. This was
both property damage and causing a human casualty, both of which were busts.
Galaer used a crate from the ledge north of the lever, frobbing it while
jumping onto the gas lamp. You don’t need a crate, however, to do this. I
mantled the doors, then further onto the ledge, and then finally hopped
towards the wall, frobbing the lever in the process (left image below). If I
pulled up a different inventory item like a scroll, then I could see when it
got smaller during the jump, which meant I was highlighting the lever behind
the ledge. This was a good way to judge when
to frob it successfully. I would also have to flip this lever back later, but
that was not a problem.
Congress
Hall The
living quarters was unproblematic, except I couldn’t pass the lower floor
outside Capellan’s quarters. I instead entered the east side of this floor
via the power station. One of the readables for the Capellan objective was in
a guard station on the upper floor, but I couldn’t reach it without a first
alert. Luckily, I could skip it and still find other readables to fulfill that
objective. To get the coins in the laundry room, I had to use the patrolling
guard to open and close the door, otherwise the servant gave a comment. Then
used the rafters in the power station to head back to congress hall. The
only Supreme bust came in the dining hall. The room was brightly lit and a
camera stared north (right image above). I tried rushing over to grab the map
on the wall and get back without getting spotted, but I wasn’t even close.
The camera didn’t swing that far east and west, so it covered the room very
well. I had to turn off two of the three light switches to get the map. I was
also able to get the loot on the table this way, but it was difficult. I
could now enter the main building’s upper floor from congress hall without
alerts. I cleaned this floor easily and then went to the roof. It was
possible to mantle the cables and head back down to street level without the
pulley. That way I could close the sewer hatch and turn off the signal lights
for Supreme. I couldn’t do that after robbing the vault, because several
enemies spawned blocking the entrance to the Cog Tower courtyard. I climbed
the cables back up again and returned inside. The
final task was to clean the depository, which was easy. After this, the gates
around the tower’s bottom floor closed up, so I had to return to the
conservatory and use the balcony button one more time. This was why I had
picked up the balcony key earlier. Then reset both the red beams and the
lever for the vault door. Returned the key to the guard’s patrol route also.
To end the mission, I had to get the pulley and use it on the cables. It
wasn’t enough to ride them down to the streets manually. Statistics: Time: 1:11:41 Loot: 1500 out of 1500 Pickpockets: 3 out of 14 Secrets: 4 out of 7 Locks Picked: 7 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Notes: -
Got a first alert from the guard when starting the
mission. This happens out of the player’s control, because you cannot move
until after getting heard, similar to a camvator sequence. I think this
Supreme bust should be excused. -
Had to turn off 2 lights in congress hall in order to
take the mechanists’ map. Supreme bust. |
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